ECE News Story

Memorial Scholarship to Honor Recent ECE Graduate Brent R. Mayer

Memorial Scholarship to Honor Recent ECE Graduate Brent R. Mayer

The ECE Department has set up a special memorial scholarship fund to honor Brent R. Mayer, who graduated this past December with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and died January 20, 2005, little over a year after he had been diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

Mayer was a courageous individual who came from a family of six children and was the first in his family to graduate from college. He paid for his own education and held down almost a full time job to do so. Mayer loved sports, playing the guitar and electronics. He completed his degree this past fall while undergoing chemotherapy.

His fiancé, Lori Cumberland, Marketing ’01, recalls that Mayer was “one of the most amazing people that I have ever met. His strength and will to live were inspirational to all who met him. Everyone who knew him instantly became his friend and was encouraged by his love of life and triumph over hardship.”

Cumberland continues, “He was supposed to graduate from college in May 2004 but his last semester was delayed [because of his illness]. I was amazed that he decided to go back to school in the fall and thanks to cooperation of the University of Maryland, he was able to graduate in December in the midst of his chemotherapy.”

To contribute to the fund, make a check payable to the University of Maryland College Park Foundation (UMCPF), specify “Brent R. Mayer Memorial Scholarship Fund” in the memo section, and mail to: Brent R. Mayer Memorial Scholarship Fund, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, A.V. Williams Building, College Park, MD 20742. For more information, contact Radka Nebesky at (301) 405–8072 or radka@umd.edu.